Commentary

Senior Counsel

Peter has been an environmental, land use, and consumer attorney and advocate since 1983. He has held various roles in Washington, DC including Of Counsel at the Center for Food Safety; Vice President for U.S. Government Policy at Conservation International; Director of International Conservation at Defenders of Wildlife; and Staff Attorney at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Additionally, he worked as a contracted consultant on endangered species recovery efforts with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Turner Endangered Species Fund in New Mexico. Prior to that, he served as an Attorney and Policy Analyst for the U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, and was also in private law practice. His career has centered on bringing the best science to bear in environmental protection efforts; he has specialized in working with scientists so their findings can inform good policy, as well as in federal litigation. Most of his work has been in aid of wildlife conservation in the fields of pesticides, genetically modified organisms, invasive species, wildlife disease prevention, international trade, land use conflicts, and other areas. Peter received his law degree from the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University) School of Law and also has a master’s degree in Environmental Studies from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, with a focus on conservation biology.

Op-Ed | Biden’s Leadership Vacancies at Interior Recall Trump’s Track Record

by Peter Jenkins | December 16, 2021
The department plays a pivotal role in fulfilling many of the administration’s goals. It deserves more than temporary minders ...

COMMENTARY | Concern Over President’s Choice to Head Federal Wildlife Agency 

by Guest Contributor | December 13, 2021
The Biden Administration's pick to lead the Fish and Wildlife Service, Martha Williams, seems to be lacking in the required education ...

COMMENTARY | Opaque Decision-Making at The Colorado Air Pollution Control Division

by Guest Contributor | December 10, 2021
Colorado Air Pollution Control Division has a convenient history of bad record keeping at a time when reporters, citizens and lawmakers have a lot of questions ...

COMMENTARY | Curing EPA’s Culture of Corruption

by Kyla Bennett | December 2, 2021
Instead of wasting resources to stamp out dissent, EPA needs to clean up corruption in its management chain ...

COMMENTARY | To Regulate “Super Greenhouse Gases” Congress Must Act

by Guest Contributor | November 22, 2021
Congressional action is needed reduce the use of Sulfur Hexafluoride, the most potent “super greenhouse gas” known to exist ...

COMMENTARY | We Can’t Build Our Way Out of the Climate Crisis

by Tim Whitehouse | November 19, 2021
Reducing our energy use must be a goal. Time is too short, and the climate math is too rigorous, for us to build our way out of this crisis ...